The days of paying a dollar-a-gallon for gas are long gone. But a new study out says that’s what some San Diego drivers are paying.

Credit: JMRosenfeld

Above: Nissan Leaf Electric Vehicle

OK, to be fair, these San Diego drivers aren’t paying a dollar-a-gallon for gas. Rather they’re paying the equivalent to charge up their electric cars. A study from the California Center for Sustainable Energy looked at how people are using the more than 12,000 electric cars in the state.

It found about two-thirds of the cars are charged during off-peak hours, between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. Also, the cars save about 350,000 gallons of petroleum every month.

Electric car owners are more likely to have home solar energy systems. A majority use their electric cars as their primary vehicles and drive more than 800 miles a month on an electric charge.

If you're wondering what $1/gallon equivalent really means, here's the answer: the cheapest electric rate in our region is roughly $0.14/kWh (on one of the special EV time-of-use rates) and the Nissan Leaf will go about 3.5 miles on each kWh if you drive conservatively...so.... ($1.00 / $0.14) = 7.1 kWh x 3.5 miles = 25 miles. So there you have it: $1.00 to drive 25 miles.